Monstrous Regiment

Monstrous Regiment (Discworld Novels) Terry Pratchett Date: 31 August, 2004   —   $6.75   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy/Satire

Meh. This is a well-written tale about young Polly Perks, who joins her country's army as a boy so that she can save her brother, who is well-intentioned but slow. As it soon becomes evident, however, her country is losing, and she has to figure out a way to survive while keeping her secret, especially as her troop is the last one standing...

but...

Even though it's well written, and funny, and Pratchett (where even his worst is pretty darned good), I can't muster a whole lot of enthusiasm for this book. To begin with, it's a book about joining the Army, and I've never been particularly fond of stories about joining the Army. Secondly, the major humor point of the novel is fairly obvious even if you're not familiar with the Discworld, where absurdities are taken to extremes. And thirdly, it doesn't have more than a hint of familiar characters, which is fine for when you're trying to establish new ones, but Polly (Oliver) has a complete character arc and therefore probably won't show up again.